Hello guys,

My name is Ken and i live in Spokane as well. I am on day 10 of building my rink. It is a 32x48 rink and I am having all kinds of trouble filling it. I found 2 leaks the other day and I chipped the ice away and laid more plastic.

I don't see any signs of leaks now but it is just taking forever to fill. This is my first real attempt at doing this and I am frustrated beyond belief with it. i have the hose running 24hrs a day and it is slowly spreading to the high points but I fear I must still have a leak at this point because it is so slow.

Once I have some ice built up, is there a way that you guys know to repair a leak? Or does it normally take a long time to fill rinks.

Any help would be appreciated.

Ken

Hey Ken,

Just be glad you didn't pay $300 for a water truck delivery before you found your leaks. There are worse things than waiting for a fill, trust me.

Two schools of thought, mostly weather-dependent. If you live where it's bitterly cold throughout the winter, and your leaks are in the shallow end, you may take the chance that your ice will freeze down to the ground and limit water loss from a leak. Most of us don't live in climates like that.

Your other option is to either patch before freezing, or break the ice and patch underwater. Nicerink has an underwater tape for this purpose (email people you know who use NR products, they usually include a roll in their shipments)...you can also use e6000 or acoustic sealant. I used roofing tar to patch my liner last year and wasn't impressed. It bonds quickly, but by the next morning my liner/roofing tar patch was floating and had frozen into my ice slab.

It is certainly frustrating, but there are lessons to be learned. Last year I built my rink on a tennis court and walked on the liner. The friction between my shoes and the ground, which was never an issue when I built on grass, caused holes. I won't do that again. Each year is a (difficult) learning process. As they said...if it was easy, everyone would do it. Don't give up!

Hey, Ken

I have used tyvek tape in the past to patch my liner it held pretty good.